In 1828 Thomas Peel went to London and was planning to emigrate to New South Wales, when reports of the new free colony to be founded at Swan River changed his mind. He joined a syndicate of financiers in proposing to the government a plan whereby they would transfer ten thousand settlers with requisite stock and stores to the new colony within four years, and place them each on 200 acres (81 ha) of land, in return for which the syndicate wished to receive four million acres (1,618,760 ha) of land. The Colonial Office, however, was under pressure from Captain (Sir) James Stirling, who had explored the Swan River in 1827, either to grant him the right to develop the place under a proprietary charter, or to proclaim it a new crown colony of which he would be the governor. When Sir George Murray took charge at the Colonial Office in May 1828 he did not wish to grant a charter, or to incur the expense of forming a colony. The interest of Thomas Peel’s association of investors seems to have been a deciding factor in persuading the government that the place could be a crown colony and at the same time be largely developed by outside capital. The government, however, felt it could not agree to the amount of territory the investors wished to receive, and could sanction only a grant of one million acres (404,690 ha). At this, all the financiers interested withdrew, except Thomas Peel. While he hesitated, Solomon Levey proposed a ten-year partnership with him in the venture, to which he agreed. A deed of co-partnership was drawn up between them, a long and complicated document by which Levey was to finance the scheme and Peel, not being as wealthy as was thought, was to be the salaried manager of it in the colony, although he was to apply for the title deeds to the land in his own name, it being understood that these lands, with the exception of 25,000 acres (10,117 ha), were in joint ownership.
Solomon Levey had amassed a fortune in property in New South Wales before he returned temporarily to England and thought he saw good potential in the new colony. Being both a Jew and a former convict, perhaps he considered it better not to appear as Peel’s co-partner to the authorities. Their partnership, therefore, was concealed for four years from the Colonial Office. Peel appeared as the sole negotiator with the Colonial Office and as the sole investor and promoter of their emigration scheme. As a natural corollary he reaped the notoriety that resulted, first, when charges were made of favouritism on the part of his cousin, the Home Secretary, Robert Peel, in the granting of so much land; and second, when the scheme collapsed shortly after the emigrants’ arrival in the colony.
